Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Abeng Editorial: Coronated Queens

Coronated Queens

by K. Omodele @TheAbeng

I'm drawn to strong, steely queens who bend but don't break, who may crack but don't shatter; practical, can-do, will-deal-with-any-situation women; Women who throw hands akimbo and laugh in the faces of hurricanes; though a continent removed, women who gather skirts and frock tails, bend over and toil soil under sun; one empress who wheeled a truck all day, then on the refill, struggled with the over-sized nozzle at the pump, trying to earn a check that way.

Centuries ago these women would've stood up, gathered hammers, axes and saws, and built a whole girls' dorm for Old Timbuktu; would've encircled, forming council 'round Yaa Assentewaa while she cranked up.

"Since you men won't fight the British invaders, we women will fight them ourselves."

The type of women who ride, like warrior-queens Nanny, Nyabinghi, Nzinga, like Hatshepsut ruling over Egypt and Ethiopia.

Empresses whose I do's ring true through decades; whose heart-fires slow-burn, turning up in time; sisters who step up in courts pleading for brothers, cleaving to brothers, year dragging after year grieving but believing in brothers. Women of resistance who raise right fists in the air, like Assata, Andaiye, Angela and Bonita; women who stand for their men, stand with their men; sit with their men; never trailing behind but, with heads high, walking side by side with their men. Like Waiyzaro Menen, empresses who are coronated on the very same day as their Kings.

4 comments:

They don't seem to make Women of that kind of strength anymore it seems, huh? Those kind of women from centuries ago with those type of well rounded skills.... If we women come together and dig deep, I think we could all revive that type of women within ourselves and in the next generations of women to be...all while standing strong with the men in their lives... strong, but with a humble and submissive reverence.

Greetings again, Arose. I think you said a mouthful and he artful when you suggested that women could once again find this spirit within themselves if they come together and dig deep. The spirit lives on within sisters today, I realize. That's what's so remarkable. I've seen it, I see it, even in this world of hyper technology and super materialism. It definitely is in those sisters who stand by there men in courts, in defiance, and criticism of this criminal injustice system, where brothers are disproportionately led off to prison industrial plantations in this age of mass incarceration; they drag themselves to fields today, with as much determination as those times, even though they're bombarded with more distractions, with more consumerism and corporate target marketing; sisters today live in a faster paced world than those in our past, but still dig deep and find within themselves the strength to get up early in the morning, jump in a doulie-truck and haul cars for a living; these, my dear, are real women I observe, these are the Yaa Assantewas of our times. These women would definitely had built a Girls'Wing at Timbuktu. :-)I applaud...Coronate you Queens

Greetings and Bless You, my Brother...I hear where you're coming from and agree with the utmost respect... I too stand with You and all those brothers and families affected by mass incarceration... I've seen it with a few of my own male family members... It's as heartbreaking as it is infuriating...And I also stand by the strong sisters, the Yaa Assantewas, as You say, who support the brothers in these unfortunate situations while hauling cars and jumping in doulie-trucks early in the morning... I applaud them too. :-)

This one fact is irreversible: A King is a King, even behind bars. His spirit may be broken and tortured in that cold, dark cell, but the gifts and treasures within him will never fade nor lose value. Those are the things that gives him light in such a dark situation.

Thank you for always lifting women up with such high regard and respect, King. Both You and your writings are phenomenal. Jah bless you richly and infinitely. :-)

My blog is called The Abeng and My Conscious Pen on which I post intriguing short stories and heartfelt, earthy poetry with a distinctive Caribbean style. I also have commentary and op eds, with a few guest blogging friends from time to time. Come check me out... And you can follow my writers' FB page